Don’t break out the summer wardrobe just yet.
Although December made its entrance with unwinterlike behaviour, breaking temperature records galore in the Okanagan-Shuswap, it is a fleeting phenomenon.
Geoff Coulson, warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, said winter will return to the region on Friday with temperatures around zero and a more traditional December. The only difference from normal for the rest of the month is that overnight temperatures could be slightly warmer than usual, perhaps averaging -2 C instead of -5.
However, Wednesday, Dec. 1 has been defying all temperature traditions.
Speaking about 11 a.m. Dec. 1, Coulson said the temperature in Salmon Arm was on the rise, already at 17 C.
That shatters a record set in 1995 in Salmon Arm of 11.4 C.
Kelowna was also at 17 C, breaking a record of 13 C set in 2012.
Similarly in Penticton, at 16 C Wednesday morning, that temperature outdid by far the record of 11.2 C set in 2012.
For Vernon, the thermometer was at 16.3 C, with its previous record of 11.2 C also set in 2012.
Coulson said the records are “doubly impressive,” because all four communities have been keeping records for more than 100 years.
He said the high temperatures were delivered by a third recent system that has been delivering rain and snow to Coastal areas.
As the strong southwest airmass comes over the mountain into the Okanagan Valley, the sinking motion brings winds and the warm temperatures the region is experiencing. But it won’t stay and will move to the east, bringing snow and rain to eastern B.C. as it moves over higher elevations.
“The best advice for readers is to get out and enjoy the warm weather because winter is coming back,” Coulson advised.
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